Lysacek Wins Figure Skating Gold

By slightly more than a point, Evan Lysacek of the U.S. won his throw-down with Russian rival Evgeni Plushenko, claiming the gold medal Thursday in men's figure skating.

Mr. Lysacek, who was ranked second after Tuesday's short program, skated a clean long program Thursday that nailed both jumps and spins -- yet lacked the quadruple toe loop, figure skating's most physically demanding move. That won him a combined score of 257.67.

"I couldn't have asked for much more than to have my personal best at the most important moment in my life,'' said Mr. Lysacek, after his performance.

Mr. Lysacek's win also proved it's possible to be No. 1 without performing the quad, where the skater leaps up and twirls four times in the air. The skater stopped doing the maneuver last year, after a broken foot made it too painful.

The brash Mr. Plushenko, who's called the quad the "future of figure skating,'' landed one early in Thursday's program, but lost points for sloppy execution and wobbly jumps elsewhere. He scored a total of 256.36 for the short and long programs.

The quad proved risky for other less sure skaters. Japan's Daisuke Takahashi, who took home bronze, attempted one and fell, costing him points. Stephane Lambiel of Switzerland, who performed two quads -- both a bit shaky in execution -- still ended the night ranked behind Messrs. Lysacek and Plushenko, largely because his moves weren't as clean as they should have been.
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“ Hard, hard work pays off when all is said and done. We should all take note. ”

—Dave Georgeson

The Olympic battle between Messrs. Lysacek and Plushenko is philosophical as well as physical. Mr. Plushenko has argued that figure-skating should be like any other sport: It should feature tougher and tougher feats of physical prowess. Mr. Lysacek notes that figure skaters are rewarded for form and consistency as much as anything else.

"If it was a jumping competition, they would give us 10 seconds to run and do your best jump,'' said Mr. Lysacek after his performance. "But it is a four minute and 40 second performance, about sustaining that level of skating, excitement and endurance.''

Mr. Plushenko remained dismissive of the way the performances were judged, even in defeat. "If you exclude quads then the males just do ice dancing,'' he said, after Mr. Lysacek's win. Mr. Plushenko did concede that Mr. Lysacek was a good skater.

Of course, Mr. Lysacek is no slouch at jumping either. Triple jumps are tough to land, and Mr. Lysacek's program had eight of them, several of them linked with other leaps in combination.

Steadiness also helped him on Thursday, compared to Mr. Plushenko, said Frank Carroll, Mr. Lysacek's coach. "Plushenko was brilliant in the jumping,'' said Mr. Carroll. "But his ... skating was up very brilliant and down.''

* Slideshow: Day Seven of the Vancouver Olympics